NLL Notes: Rush Extend NLL's Best Start to 7-0

Backstop Aaron Bold and the Rush
defense have helped Edmonton start 7-0, the best start since the
NLL was known as the Major Indoor Lacrosse League. (Kevin
Colton)

Staying undefeated in the NLL this deep into the schedule is not
just a difficult thing to do but it is exceedingly rare.

Edmonton is the first to start a season with seven consecutive
wins since the 1996 Buffalo Bandits, who finished what was then a
10-game regular season 8-2 and who went on to win the championship
of what was then known as the Major Indoor Lacrosse League, which
became the National Lacrosse League in 1998.

GM-coach Derek Keenan's crew gets this weekend off before homes
games Feb. 28 against Toronto and March 8 against Vancouver. The
Rush then play in Calgary on March 14, at home March 21 against
Buffalo and they finish off the month with games at Rochester on
the 29th and Toronto on the 30th.

''We need to continue to stay level headed and continue to play
one game at a time regardless of who we play,'' says goaltender
Aaron Bold. ''Any team can win on any given night, especially if
you underestimate them.''

Edmonton is No. 1 defensively, allowing an average of 7.71 goals
against, and is No. 3 offensively, scoring 12 a game.

It has truly been a team effort. Mark Matthews is the only Rush
player in the top 25 point-getters in the league. His 14 goals and
19 assists put him 18th. He's 20 points behind leader John Grant
Jr. of Colorado although Matthews has played three fewer games.

Edmonton's newest players, including rookies Riley Loewen and
Robert Church, have stepped right in to play important roles, and
the pre-game preparations and game strategies put in place by
GM-coach Derek Keenan and his staff have paid off, adds Bold.

Quick starts have been a 2014 Rush trademark. They pumped in the
first three goals on the way to their 14-9 win in Minnesota last
weekend.

MID-SEASON MUSINGS

With Colorado, Philadelphia and Vancouver at or past the halfway
point of their 18-game schedules and with Buffalo, Toronto,
Minnesota, Edmonton, Rochester and Minnesota just about there, some
trends are obvious.

In the East, Buffalo and Rochester have been getting great
goaltending from Anthony Cosmo and Matt Vinc, respectively, and are
positioned to battle it out for the all-important first-round
playoff bye that will be the prize for finishing first. Toronto and
Philadelphia will be left to vie for the third and final berth, and
last-place Minnesota won't be in any position to have a say unless
it wins its games in Toronto and Philadelphia this weekend. A
Buffalo-Rochester final appears probable.

In the West, given the way Aaron Bold is tending goal, only a
total and unexpected collapse will keep Edmonton from clinching
first place. Calgary should hold onto second place. Colorado and
last-place Vancouver will be scrambling for the one remaining
berth. A Calgary-Edmonton final seems most likely.

BIG WEEKEND FOR BUCKTOOTH

Nine goals in two games _ it was an exceptional weekend for
Vancouver's Brett Bucktooth.

The Stealth forward amassed 12 points (6-6) in a 19-9 win in
Denver last Friday and picked up four points (3-1) in a 20-9 loss
in Calgary on Saturday. He made a late start to his season due to
rehab from off-season surgery and had scored one goal while
appearing in only two of the team's previous nine games.

Bucktooth, 30, is from the Onandaga Nation outside Syracuse, New
York. He's in his eighth NLL season. He matched his career high
with 16 goals last year. He was the third overall pick in the 2006
entry draft by Buffalo after he'd helped Syracuse University win
the 2004 NCAA title.

He's a busy man. He has one of the longer commutes in the NLL,
flying an hour from Syracuse to Toronto and switching to a flight
of 4 ½ hours to Vancouver for home games. He manages a
lacrosse/hockey store and also sells life insurance on weekdays
back home.

O'DOUGHERTY SITS

Chris O'Dougherty was put on the shelf for three weeks when the
Stealth placed the fourth-year defenseman on injured reserve.
O'Dougherty, 27, originally from New Jersey, is a high school
lacrosse coach in the Seattle region.

O'Dougherty and Brett Bucktooth are the only U.S.-raised players
with Vancouver. O'Dougherty was selected in the sixth round, 58th
of 62 players picked, in the 2009 entry draft. He's the only man
selected beyond the third round who is an NLL player today.

ACCURSI IN FAMILIAR GROOVE

Mike Accursi is only three games into his comeback but he's
comfortable in his familiar spot on the right side of Rochester's
offense. The 38-year-old Canadian left his front office post to
resume his NLL career after Craig Point went down with a long-term
injury and has been on a goal-a-game pace.

He's six points from passing retired Toronto forward Blaine
Manning and taking over 10th place on the all-time points list.
Accursi has 390 goals and 437 assists for 827 points in 237
games.

''It feels good,'' No. 44 said after helping the Knighthawks to
a 17-9 win in Toronto last Saturday night. ''I mean I'm still
getting into rhythm with the guys and stuff like that but I
definitely feel good and I'm healthy so we'll keep playing and
plugging away and let it all happen.''

BIG NUMBERS

The top two all-time leading scorers are about to reach crazy
career milestones: Buffalo captain John Tavares needs seven goals
for 800, and Toronto captain Colin Doyle needs only two for
500.

LOOKING BACK

Feb. 23, 2006: League founders Russ Cline and Chris Fritz,
players Paul and Gary Gait, and the late coach Les Bartley were the
first to be inducted into the NLL Hall of Fame during an all-star
weekend ceremony held in Toronto.